1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to kitchen utensils. More particularly, it relates to kitchen tongs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tongs are popular kitchen utensils generally used for gripping and lifting various food items in the preparation and serving of meals. Tongs known in the art have two elongate tong members that are permanently affixed to each other. Some known tongs have a general scissor-like configuration wherein the tong members are joined at a pivot point at a middle portion of the tong members. The pivot point typically comprises a pivot screw and screw nut. The proximal end of the scissors-like tongs is in the form of handles which allow the user to manipulate the tongs while the distal end includes a gripping portion in order to grip food items. Another known tong configuration features the proximal ends of each tong member being fixedly secured to each other in an adjacent relationship wherein biasing springs force the tong members apart.
The gripping portions on the distal ends of known tongs may comprise a fork-like body, spatula-like body, spoon-like body, or have various other shapes known in the art. A disadvantage with known tongs is that the tong members are permanently affixed to each other and one or both gripping surfaces on the pair of tongs are unable to be changed. However, a variety of gripping surfaces are needed for a pair of tongs depending on the size, weight, shape and texture of the food. Tongs that are desirable for handling food items such as salads traditionally include a tong member with a spoon-like gripping end and the other tong member has a fork-like gripping end. In contrast, tongs useful for gripping and lifting items such as meats may require flat, spatula-like and/or forked ends. Therefore, since the gripping portions of known tongs are not interchangeable a person is required to purchase numerous pairs of tongs having different gripping surfaces.
Furthermore, the continued performance of known tongs are dependent on the integrity of hardware such as pivot screws and pivot nuts and/or springs which normally degrade over time and serve as a point of weakness for the securement of the tong members to each other and decrease the lifespan of the tongs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plurality of tongs members with a variety of gripping portions that are easily conjoined and fastened to each other in order to form interchangeable tongs.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide tong members that securely attach to each other in order to form a pair of interlocked tongs and requires minimal hardware for its operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide tongs with improved performance that are cost effective to manufacture.